Consolidation.

Following his defeat of the French in 1565, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Spanish governor of La Florida, moved to establish control over the southeastern part of North America. He began by securing his northern flank through the construction of Fort San Felipe on Parris Island, South Carolina, near the site of the short-lived stronghold the French had built in 1562. Garrisoned with 160 men and six cannon, San Felipe joined St. Augustine and Fort Caroline—renamed San Mateo by the Spanish —as the core of Spain's defenses in La Florida. Menendez supplemented these larger forts with seven smaller coastal garrisons spread along both sides of the Florida coast. These smaller installations, Menendez ordered, were to be supplied by tribute extracted from the local Indians. Partly because of the hostility that this supply system inspired among the peninsula's Native Americans...